Media gateways and other switching apparatus employed to switch TDM other types of data in a circuit-switched network are often designed for specific needs, particular known or projected traffic demands of one or more PSTN networks. However, it is not altogether uncommon that the traffic demands and/or other parameters employed to determine size, capability and performance of the switching apparatus can far exceed known and even projected traffic patterns.
Consequently, attempts have been made to design media gateways and other switching apparatus which are expandable, permitting reconfiguration as needed within a particular application or installation. However, such expandable apparatus are invariably blocking apparatus, thereby limiting the utility of some percentage of the apparatus' interfaces to the connected network(s). Moreover, the installation, maintenance and reconfiguration of these previous attempts at providing expandable switching apparatus have proven to be cost, time and labor intensive.